Lola Sebring Winter Test, day one report

Lola's much anticipated LMP1 car -- the B06/10 made its track
debut today at Sebring in Floridawith Dyson Racing in preparation for
the famous 12 Hour race at the historic airfield track in March.
James Weaver was the first driver to sample the...

Lola's much anticipated LMP1 car -- the B06/10 made its track
debut today at Sebring in Floridawith Dyson Racing in preparation for
the famous 12 Hour race at the historic airfield track in March.

James Weaver was the first driver to sample the AER 3.6 litre V8 twin
turbo machine and it immediately made an impression on him, despite
minimal laps after the team had finished preparing the car for what is
essentially a shakedown test.

"Gorgeous - a beautiful piece of engineering," enthused Weaver.
"Lola has done us proud and so has AER. It is a quality piece of
equipment - very impressive."

Weaver undertakes his first lap with the LolaB06/10 LMP1 at Sebring
yesterday eveningThe B06/10 is the latest in a long lineage of sportscar designs by
Lola's renowned team of designers at its Huntingdon base. After
taking an un-official triple crown of LMES, Le Mans 24 Hours and ALMS
class title wins last season with the B05/40 LMP2 design, Lola are
looking to more wins in this years European and American endurance races.

The all-new B06/10 will race against stiff competition this year with
Porsche and Audi fielding new designs in the LMP2 and LMP1 classes
respectively. Dyson will run two of the new B06/10cars, with the second
scheduled to test for the first time early next month.

The B06/10 has been built specifically for the ACO/LMP1 rules and
benefits from the development of the B05/40 LMP2 model that proved to be
the pacesetter in the class, on both sides of the Atlantic last season.
Features on the LMP1 car include a quick release nosebox, dual
high-pressure fuel pumps and back up batteries and starter motors.

Lola's HT (high-torque) gearbox has already been race-proven for
performance, and reliability in previous designs. With a maximum input
torque in excess of 800 Nm the gearbox has the durability needed to cope
with the demands of 24 hour racing. Dyson Racing will use a
semi-automatic 6-speed sequential system developed by AER.

Rupert Manwaring, Managing Director of Lola Group said of the new design:
" This is the latest in a series of Lola sportscars designed and
built by our team here Huntingdon. We believe that with Dyson Racing that
this chassis will be as successful as those that have gone before it, in
particular the B01/60 and the B05/40. Last years victories with the LMP2
car were a ringing endorsement of both Lola's and our customers
capabilities."

As well as the B06/10, there were more Lola designs on show at Sebring
today with Intersport undertaking laps with their B05/40. Jon Field
undertook the driving duties today setting an excellent best time of
1m50.840s.

Dyson's former cars, the B01/60's are now in the hands of Autocon
and Highcroft Racing. While Autocon aim to undertake their first miles in
the coming weeks, Highcroft were in Florida with Duncan Dayton and Andy
Wallace getting his new teams 2006 campaign off to a good start with a
fastest lap of 1m50.747s, whilst helping the team get to grips with his
ex car.

The B06/10 will also be represented in the Le Mans Series with
Chamberlain Synergy upgrading from LMP2 to the new design. Once again Bob
Berridge, Peter Owen and 2005 LMES champion Gareth Evans will drive.

Weaver was delighted with the initial 'feel' of the Lola

Q&A with James Weaver

How many new cars have you developed?

"At Dyson alone, quite a few: two Riley's, a Reynard, did a bit
of testing for Lola years ago, the MG, this new car, the Porsche 962, the
Spice Ferrari, the Indy Lights car, the Indy Car -- a good ten."

Is it fun, challenging...?

"It is brilliant -- like having a new girl friend and probably
marginally less aggravation..... Not that I have a new girl friend of
course!"

What can you tell about the car at this point?

"At this moment, it feels very benign and user friendly and a lot less busy
to drive than the MG. The engine is very smooth and accelerates very well
off the corners."

Is this your first drive by wire car?

"Yes. The biggest problem is it is so bumpy around here - we just
have to calm the throttle down. We will work on the springs and damping
on the throttle and than it will be fine."

Is there a definite procedure for developing a new car?

"Basically you are doing an engineering audit like a financial audit
for a company: you see what you got, what you have in stock and whether
everything is as it should be. You do that in engineering terms. For
example, acquiring the data for the aero map: you do aero runs at a
steady 150 mph and make sure all your push rod loads at those ride
heights match up to your aero map. That is one of the most important
things to do and than you start working from there."

Is it a three day process...?

"You never stop learning. If you don't have any major problems,
than a two or three day test should get you 80% of the way there."

At the end of this test, what do you want to know?

"You want to know if we have any long lead item problems, like a
major fault with the aero, or the engine or chassis or transmission. If
we come away with nothing major like that, than we will be looking
good."